Well, they did it. After a week of talk at the winter meetings and teasing the Dodgers finally made a move worth commenting on. They signed Andruw Jones, formerly of Hooters, the Gold Club and the Atlanta Braves to a 2 year 37-ish million dollar deal.
What does this all mean? In a perfect world it means Scott Boras had his worst offseason ever, screwing up the ARod deal and now only getting 2 years for Jones. Or it could mean the Dodgers are moving Pierre and his girly arm to LF or left out where it should hurt us less. Maybe it means Dead Head Ned will actually offer some prospects to MINN and get us Johan! (yeah, I doubt it too).
Why is it the Boston and NY are the only suitors for Johan? I would like to think LA can blow away any offer BOS or NY could make. Is a package of Kershaw, Kemp and LaRoche not far superior to Lester or Ellsbury, and some lesser prospects? Even P.Hughes, M.Cabrera and other MLs. LA has the superior prospects and talent to deal. SO DO IT! Why not? Prospects are all suspects until they make their first all star game. I will take the legit star, best pitcher in baseball at almost any cost.
Regardless, I'm ok with the Jones signing. Its short term so if he sucks, it won't last long. If he's great, we benefit and then either sign him or show him the door. He plays Gold Glove CF and just hit 93 HRs and 257 RBIs over the previous 2 years. Yeah last year was a down year but his stats still would have been tops on the Dodgers. Good move but don't stop now!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Brett Ho Parko
Wow, Ned continues to IMPRESS! Word from Korea is that the Dodgers have signed..............wait for it............................................no, not one of the next good Japanese players coming over this season...................but.....................................................CHAN HO PARK!!!!!! The Karate Kid! At least its only a minor league deal. Park actually looked good two years ago as Korea's closer in the WBC but never seemed to get a shot to do that in the Majors.
Considering the luck we've had the last few years and the need that required us to use Brett Tomko, Mark Hendrickson, Elmer Dessens, David Wells, and Esteban Loseriaza, Park will probably get some face time on the mound for LA next season.
Park has always pissed me off as a fan. He was one of those guys that had the stuff but never the mental aspects to be a successful player. I was bummed when he went to Texas but glad we did not sign him after watching him flameout there. Maybe he is healthy now and maybe he will want it more and actually be a nice addition, I will not hold my breath though.
Considering the luck we've had the last few years and the need that required us to use Brett Tomko, Mark Hendrickson, Elmer Dessens, David Wells, and Esteban Loseriaza, Park will probably get some face time on the mound for LA next season.
Park has always pissed me off as a fan. He was one of those guys that had the stuff but never the mental aspects to be a successful player. I was bummed when he went to Texas but glad we did not sign him after watching him flameout there. Maybe he is healthy now and maybe he will want it more and actually be a nice addition, I will not hold my breath though.
Golden RUMA
Congrats to RUssell MArtin on picking his first of what should be SEVERAL Gold Gloves at the Catcher position. Russell should only get better under Torre and Bowa and hopefully the addition of a Miggy or ARod to help in the lineup! Martin was probably the team MVP for 07 so it is great to see him get some recognition.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Trick or Treat
Its only Halloween but considering the Tigers just pulled off a trade for Renteria and ARod declared himself a free agent, its never to early to make out a Christmas Wish List.
How would I fix the Dodgers, get us to the playoffs and have a shot at winning the title? Here it is in a few short steps.
1. Trade LaRoche, Kemp and Kershaw to Minnesota for Johan Santana and sign him to an extension. (7 yrs, 100 mil? - Something like the Oswalt deal)
2. Sign ARod. Bend over and take it. Whatever the cost. 7 yrs, 35 mil on average. Fine. Do it. He's never hurt and is the game's premier player, regardless of October problems. He'll play long enough to pass Bonds for the HR record and maybe Pete Rose for the hits record. The Dodgers are raking in the cash, already charge us twice as much to park as is a game ticket and are on the verge of busting the 4 million mark in attendance. What better way than to put ARod at 3B.
3. Cut, trade or retire Jeff Kent. He's an ass in the clubhouse. His defense has taken a huge step back. His bat gets worse every year. Nice career but you and Grady can ride your bikes back to the midwest.
4. Sign Geoff Jenkins to play a corner OF spot with Ethier.
5. Bolster bench and bully with a couple key vets - this is where Torre's rep will come in handy.
Where does this leave us? Look at this;
C- Martin, 1B-Loney, 2B-Abreu/Hu, SS-Furcal, 3B-Arod, LF-Jenkins, CF-Pierre, RF-Ethier.
Starting P's = Johan, Lowe, Penny, Billingsly and Schmidt.
Bully = Saito, Brox, Meloan, Loseriaza, etc.
Bench = Nomar, Repko, and others.
I'd like our chances.
How would I fix the Dodgers, get us to the playoffs and have a shot at winning the title? Here it is in a few short steps.
1. Trade LaRoche, Kemp and Kershaw to Minnesota for Johan Santana and sign him to an extension. (7 yrs, 100 mil? - Something like the Oswalt deal)
2. Sign ARod. Bend over and take it. Whatever the cost. 7 yrs, 35 mil on average. Fine. Do it. He's never hurt and is the game's premier player, regardless of October problems. He'll play long enough to pass Bonds for the HR record and maybe Pete Rose for the hits record. The Dodgers are raking in the cash, already charge us twice as much to park as is a game ticket and are on the verge of busting the 4 million mark in attendance. What better way than to put ARod at 3B.
3. Cut, trade or retire Jeff Kent. He's an ass in the clubhouse. His defense has taken a huge step back. His bat gets worse every year. Nice career but you and Grady can ride your bikes back to the midwest.
4. Sign Geoff Jenkins to play a corner OF spot with Ethier.
5. Bolster bench and bully with a couple key vets - this is where Torre's rep will come in handy.
Where does this leave us? Look at this;
C- Martin, 1B-Loney, 2B-Abreu/Hu, SS-Furcal, 3B-Arod, LF-Jenkins, CF-Pierre, RF-Ethier.
Starting P's = Johan, Lowe, Penny, Billingsly and Schmidt.
Bully = Saito, Brox, Meloan, Loseriaza, etc.
Bench = Nomar, Repko, and others.
I'd like our chances.
Another classless move by Ned and McA-hole
I am not opposed to firing Grady Little and finding a better manager. I am opposed to acting like JD Drew, repeatedly say a certain person would be back next year and then acting like this. If you want to hire Joe Girardi or Joe Torre, give Grady the respect he deserves, FIRE him, and then proceed with the search. DON'T have a guy in place, interview and offer others the job and have it leaked to the press and then have Grady "resign" to save face. I swear this continues to be the worst run organization in baseball since McStupid took over.
Now to Torre. I'm ok with Joe as our manager, I guess. My real problem is that Mr. Yankee, Donnie Baseball is rumored to be coming with him. WHAT? Excuse me? Is nothing sacred anymore? Are cats and dogs living in harmony? For an organization as old and full of quality alumni as the Dodgers, to hire MULTIPLE YANKEES makes me throw up in my mouth. Torre I guess, isn't really a Yankee. He was a Brave, a Met, a Cardinal as player or coach, never having much success and then landed the right job at the right time with the Yanks and the rest is history. I'm ok with this but Don Mattingly?!?!?!?! What about Orel Hershiser? Kirk Gibson? Tim Wallach? Karros? Look what happened when we ignored Mike Scioscia!
This just makes no sense. I don't care if his punk ass son is in our minor leagues, that is not reason enough to offer him a job. He is the Yankees and they didn't want to hire him? That should be a clue. Also, does this mean we're trading the kids or committing to them? Is Torre really a coach for a team of rooks? He's never really had to bring up kids outside of Jeter, Posada and Rivera. Soriano didn't last in NY. Many other NY kids were constantly traded away.....
Does this help get us ARod? I could swear Torre batted ARod 8th last year. Called him out several times. Took Jeter's side. I really want ARod and would pay what it takes but does this get us closer or basically kill that dream? We'll find out soon.
Now to Torre. I'm ok with Joe as our manager, I guess. My real problem is that Mr. Yankee, Donnie Baseball is rumored to be coming with him. WHAT? Excuse me? Is nothing sacred anymore? Are cats and dogs living in harmony? For an organization as old and full of quality alumni as the Dodgers, to hire MULTIPLE YANKEES makes me throw up in my mouth. Torre I guess, isn't really a Yankee. He was a Brave, a Met, a Cardinal as player or coach, never having much success and then landed the right job at the right time with the Yanks and the rest is history. I'm ok with this but Don Mattingly?!?!?!?! What about Orel Hershiser? Kirk Gibson? Tim Wallach? Karros? Look what happened when we ignored Mike Scioscia!
This just makes no sense. I don't care if his punk ass son is in our minor leagues, that is not reason enough to offer him a job. He is the Yankees and they didn't want to hire him? That should be a clue. Also, does this mean we're trading the kids or committing to them? Is Torre really a coach for a team of rooks? He's never really had to bring up kids outside of Jeter, Posada and Rivera. Soriano didn't last in NY. Many other NY kids were constantly traded away.....
Does this help get us ARod? I could swear Torre batted ARod 8th last year. Called him out several times. Took Jeter's side. I really want ARod and would pay what it takes but does this get us closer or basically kill that dream? We'll find out soon.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Dodger Odds and Ends
Some Dodgers news this week in between the World Series excitement.
The Good: Apparently the Dodgers are trying to play 1 game at the LA Coliseum next season to commemorate the 50th year anniversary in Los Angeles. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome, namely, fitting a baseball diamond into the Coliseum as its set up today. Here's hoping this gets done. This is a great idea and you can count me in. I've always wondered what it was like to see the Dodgers play there before the Stadium opened up and this would be a great opportunity. Don't screw it up McCourt!!!
The Bad: Rumor has it, if Joe Girardi is not hired by the Yanks, the Dodgers might hire him to either coach under Grady for a year and then presumably take over or just come in next year as manager and show Grady the door now. One the best indicators of being a good manager is that guy was a former player and played catcher. Check and Check. Another is past success. One year in Florida and Joe won NL Manager of the Year. So why am I against this move you ask? Its because of the "other things."
1. He got fired after one year. He obviously likes to be an ass, speak his mind, and shop around, otherwise Florida would not unload him after one really good year.
2. He was death to Florida's pitching staff. In 06 under Joe, Florida had Willis, Olsen, Johnson, Sanchez and Nolasco as their starting 5. This year, after all that success last year, Johnson, Sanchez and Nolasco all missed most of this season and Willis and Olsen while "healthy," pretty much sucked and performed under career norms. My guess is that is because he did not manage and use these guys properly last year. With LA having Schmidt already on life support, Billingsly and Kershaw the young arms of the future, I don't want Joe to kill them after one year.
3. He's a Ned guy and so far Ned guys have SUCKED! I half expect Ned to commit high treason and sign that ass Bonds to play for us next year. Don't you dare Ned!
The Good: Apparently the Dodgers are trying to play 1 game at the LA Coliseum next season to commemorate the 50th year anniversary in Los Angeles. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome, namely, fitting a baseball diamond into the Coliseum as its set up today. Here's hoping this gets done. This is a great idea and you can count me in. I've always wondered what it was like to see the Dodgers play there before the Stadium opened up and this would be a great opportunity. Don't screw it up McCourt!!!
The Bad: Rumor has it, if Joe Girardi is not hired by the Yanks, the Dodgers might hire him to either coach under Grady for a year and then presumably take over or just come in next year as manager and show Grady the door now. One the best indicators of being a good manager is that guy was a former player and played catcher. Check and Check. Another is past success. One year in Florida and Joe won NL Manager of the Year. So why am I against this move you ask? Its because of the "other things."
1. He got fired after one year. He obviously likes to be an ass, speak his mind, and shop around, otherwise Florida would not unload him after one really good year.
2. He was death to Florida's pitching staff. In 06 under Joe, Florida had Willis, Olsen, Johnson, Sanchez and Nolasco as their starting 5. This year, after all that success last year, Johnson, Sanchez and Nolasco all missed most of this season and Willis and Olsen while "healthy," pretty much sucked and performed under career norms. My guess is that is because he did not manage and use these guys properly last year. With LA having Schmidt already on life support, Billingsly and Kershaw the young arms of the future, I don't want Joe to kill them after one year.
3. He's a Ned guy and so far Ned guys have SUCKED! I half expect Ned to commit high treason and sign that ass Bonds to play for us next year. Don't you dare Ned!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
World Series thoughts
So the 162 game season has come to an end, 8 playoff teams have been cut to 2 after 2 rounds and we are left with the Colorado Rockies vs. the Boston Red Sox. Wow. Who would have predicted that one in March. (Not SI - those idiots had Dodgers v. Angels! thanks for the JINX!) Since I improved on my 0% prediction rate in round 1 to a whopping 50% after the Championship Series, that must mean I am due to nail this pick. I am going to go against the grain and possibly sanity and pick the Rockies to continue shocking the world. Here's why:
1. The DH/Defense issue. The old adage is that pitching and defense wins championships and this will never be more important. The Rockies are by far the best defensive team in baseball. The statistics bear this out as COL finished with one of the highest fielding percentages ever. Why is this important? Coors Field is the most spacious OF in baseball. You have to be on your "A" game with decent speed to cover all that area. Who does Boston start in LF? Yeah, Manny Ramirez, next to Barry Bonds, one of the worst and laziest fielding players EVER. JD Drew will either be in RF or CF depending on Boston's choice for 1B (Big Papi or Youk). If the Sox start Ortiz at 1B, they lose defense there. If they stick Youk in RF and move Drew to CF, they'll have two terrible corner OFs. Boston's best bet is to leave Drew in RF and go with the speedsters in Crisp and Ellsbury in CF and then rotate the two hitters at 1B and pinch hitter.
2. Rockies are not scared of Fenway. They played 3 interleague games in Boston this year and guess what happened? Colorado won 2 of 3 there! They lost 2-1 but then won 12-2 and 7-1. There will not be anything to intimidate Colorado outside of the great Sox fan support but no fans are easier to take out of a game than Boston fans. They choked in game 2 vs. the Indians and are notorious for packing up and fearing the worst when their backs are against the wall.
3. Rockies can hit on the road. True the Rockies never play as well and hit as much on the road as at home but the difference here is the Boston is an EXTREME hitters park as well. Its not like they are going from Colorado to Detroit. The Rockies bats will not be silent in Boston and adding the DH will only benefit them as they have some pretty skilled hitters on the bench.
4. The Rockies pitching is not as bad as it used to be. Yes their ace is Jeff Francis who most people don't know but their ace to start the year was Aaron Cook who's now set for game 4. Their 2 rookies (Jimenez and Morales) have been electric and Fogg has been steady and gets the game to the bullpen who has been lights out. Fuentes and Corpas are dominant in the late innings and can stop the Sox bats when they have a lead. Boston on the other hand has Beckett (who is great!), Schilling who will gut it out and then what? Dice K? He has not been as great as advertised, has tired a lot in the 2nd half and looks beatable. And the Boston bullpen, outside of Papelbon, they are all hittable. Gagne is a gas can and they can't use him, can they? The rest can be decent but can also stink. Also, Boston has no 4th starter as they left Wakefield off the roster. I can see Beckett winning 2 again but if he doesn't, this is over in 5 games.
5. The rest. Some people wonder if the 8 or 9 days off will hurt Colorado because of their hot streak but I think they will be fine. They are not a team of sluggers that need to stay in the zone but rather a team of solid hitters that play fundamental baseball and run the bases well so the rest will just help them get their legs back under them.
6. Finally, the altitude. It will almost be a home field advantage for COL if they can take 1 of 2 in Boston. The Boston players do not strike you as fine tuned, in great shape, athletes, that will be able to handle the exhaustion one feels playing at that altitude. Whereas Colorado is used to it, plays their all the time and has better conditioned players (with the rest helping here too).
If Colorado can get one to start in Boston, then the Rockies will win in 5. If it goes 7 though, I don't see how the Red Sox lose.......
1. The DH/Defense issue. The old adage is that pitching and defense wins championships and this will never be more important. The Rockies are by far the best defensive team in baseball. The statistics bear this out as COL finished with one of the highest fielding percentages ever. Why is this important? Coors Field is the most spacious OF in baseball. You have to be on your "A" game with decent speed to cover all that area. Who does Boston start in LF? Yeah, Manny Ramirez, next to Barry Bonds, one of the worst and laziest fielding players EVER. JD Drew will either be in RF or CF depending on Boston's choice for 1B (Big Papi or Youk). If the Sox start Ortiz at 1B, they lose defense there. If they stick Youk in RF and move Drew to CF, they'll have two terrible corner OFs. Boston's best bet is to leave Drew in RF and go with the speedsters in Crisp and Ellsbury in CF and then rotate the two hitters at 1B and pinch hitter.
2. Rockies are not scared of Fenway. They played 3 interleague games in Boston this year and guess what happened? Colorado won 2 of 3 there! They lost 2-1 but then won 12-2 and 7-1. There will not be anything to intimidate Colorado outside of the great Sox fan support but no fans are easier to take out of a game than Boston fans. They choked in game 2 vs. the Indians and are notorious for packing up and fearing the worst when their backs are against the wall.
3. Rockies can hit on the road. True the Rockies never play as well and hit as much on the road as at home but the difference here is the Boston is an EXTREME hitters park as well. Its not like they are going from Colorado to Detroit. The Rockies bats will not be silent in Boston and adding the DH will only benefit them as they have some pretty skilled hitters on the bench.
4. The Rockies pitching is not as bad as it used to be. Yes their ace is Jeff Francis who most people don't know but their ace to start the year was Aaron Cook who's now set for game 4. Their 2 rookies (Jimenez and Morales) have been electric and Fogg has been steady and gets the game to the bullpen who has been lights out. Fuentes and Corpas are dominant in the late innings and can stop the Sox bats when they have a lead. Boston on the other hand has Beckett (who is great!), Schilling who will gut it out and then what? Dice K? He has not been as great as advertised, has tired a lot in the 2nd half and looks beatable. And the Boston bullpen, outside of Papelbon, they are all hittable. Gagne is a gas can and they can't use him, can they? The rest can be decent but can also stink. Also, Boston has no 4th starter as they left Wakefield off the roster. I can see Beckett winning 2 again but if he doesn't, this is over in 5 games.
5. The rest. Some people wonder if the 8 or 9 days off will hurt Colorado because of their hot streak but I think they will be fine. They are not a team of sluggers that need to stay in the zone but rather a team of solid hitters that play fundamental baseball and run the bases well so the rest will just help them get their legs back under them.
6. Finally, the altitude. It will almost be a home field advantage for COL if they can take 1 of 2 in Boston. The Boston players do not strike you as fine tuned, in great shape, athletes, that will be able to handle the exhaustion one feels playing at that altitude. Whereas Colorado is used to it, plays their all the time and has better conditioned players (with the rest helping here too).
If Colorado can get one to start in Boston, then the Rockies will win in 5. If it goes 7 though, I don't see how the Red Sox lose.......
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
CORRECT Playoff Preview, part deux
Yeah, I know nothing.
Wow, I can't believe I missed the boat on every prediction. Just goes to show you that anything can happen in sports. After watching SC and UCLA lose this weekend, that has never been more apparent.
NLCS: Ok, ok, so what if AZ as a team gave up more runs than they scored this season and yet still were tied with COL for the most wins in the NL. Go figure. This is a tough series to gauge but considering my record so far, I can only go up. The two teams played 18 times this year with COL winning 10 of the 18. Considering COL has won 17 of 18 and seems to be a team of destiny, it'll be hard to pick against them. BUT, I just don't like their pitching and pitching and defense wins Championships. With Tulo, Atkins, Holliday, Matsui, and Taveras they have great defense though. AZ has CY Young Webb and whole lot of nothing. But it was enough to stop the Cubs' bats. This should be a tough, close series but I'm going to ride the streak and take Colorado in 6. The Rockies in the World Series! OMG! Makes me sad to be a Dodger fan (even though this shows how strong the west was).
ALCS: Indians vs. Red Sox. The Sox looked back to normal against the Angels but of course, they own Anaheim. Even JD Drew was getting hits?!?!?!?! Boston has Beckett, DiceK and Schill but Cleveland has Carmona and CC, 2 of the AL's most dominant pitchers this year. I'm a HUGE Grady Sizemore and Pronk fan and would LOVE to see Cleveland snap their streak and BAN LeBron from ever attending games at the Jake or from wearing Indian gear since he's a sellout. PLUS, Boston fan is getting way too full of themselves with the Patriots and Garnett on the Celts now. This is just wrong, for the sports world to be in balance, New England must be miserable and angry. Here's hoping a new Bill Buckner emerges! Cleveland wins in 7 games! Now Bill Simmons can write another book about a new curse!
What does all this mean? Go bet on AZ to face Boston in the World Series!
Wow, I can't believe I missed the boat on every prediction. Just goes to show you that anything can happen in sports. After watching SC and UCLA lose this weekend, that has never been more apparent.
NLCS: Ok, ok, so what if AZ as a team gave up more runs than they scored this season and yet still were tied with COL for the most wins in the NL. Go figure. This is a tough series to gauge but considering my record so far, I can only go up. The two teams played 18 times this year with COL winning 10 of the 18. Considering COL has won 17 of 18 and seems to be a team of destiny, it'll be hard to pick against them. BUT, I just don't like their pitching and pitching and defense wins Championships. With Tulo, Atkins, Holliday, Matsui, and Taveras they have great defense though. AZ has CY Young Webb and whole lot of nothing. But it was enough to stop the Cubs' bats. This should be a tough, close series but I'm going to ride the streak and take Colorado in 6. The Rockies in the World Series! OMG! Makes me sad to be a Dodger fan (even though this shows how strong the west was).
ALCS: Indians vs. Red Sox. The Sox looked back to normal against the Angels but of course, they own Anaheim. Even JD Drew was getting hits?!?!?!?! Boston has Beckett, DiceK and Schill but Cleveland has Carmona and CC, 2 of the AL's most dominant pitchers this year. I'm a HUGE Grady Sizemore and Pronk fan and would LOVE to see Cleveland snap their streak and BAN LeBron from ever attending games at the Jake or from wearing Indian gear since he's a sellout. PLUS, Boston fan is getting way too full of themselves with the Patriots and Garnett on the Celts now. This is just wrong, for the sports world to be in balance, New England must be miserable and angry. Here's hoping a new Bill Buckner emerges! Cleveland wins in 7 games! Now Bill Simmons can write another book about a new curse!
What does all this mean? Go bet on AZ to face Boston in the World Series!
Monday, October 1, 2007
PLAYOFF PREVIEW
Ok, now that we can finalize one of the most disappointing seasons in Dodger history, lets look to October at the teams still standing and try to make sense of the remaining teams.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Is there anyone out there that thinks the NL has a legit chance to win this thing? Philly? The Cubs? D-Backs? Ha ha, NO! The World Series Champ should be coming from the AL and it will be quite a race.
Angels v. Red Sox: Everyone knows by now that ANA has trouble against Boston. For some reason while ANA owns NY, Boston owns ANA. I think that could change this season. The Halos have been pretty solid and have a 1-2 in Lackey and Escobar that can easily match up with Beckett and DiceK or Schilling. Mix in Jered Weaver and some luck with Saunders, E.Santana or even Colon and the Angels should have better pitching than Boston. Mix in KRod and their previous Oct. experience, the Angels are looking like a strong ALCS bet. Boston started strong but barely held off NY, have injury and sucking issues with Manny, Nancy Drew, Gagne, and Coco B. Average. I'm taking Anaheim.
Yanks v. Indians: Cleveland enters Oct. with MLB's best record and "home field advantage." Whatever. The Yanks slept through April and May, woke up and played Bronx Bomber baseball for 4 months and easily took the 4th playoff spot. Yes their pitching is TERRIBLE but this is October which means Jeter, Clemens, Posada, Rivera, etc. Heck, if ARod just doesn't suck, NY will score about 5-8 runs a game. BUT, Cleveland does have some great pitching. CC and Carmona have been lights out but is that enough? Hafner, Sizemor, VMart and Garko are all young and without much, if any, playoff experience. I want Cleveland, I'd like to pick Cleveland but the friggin Yanks are the Yanks. I'll begrudgingly take NY.
ALCS pick - ANA over NY.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Flip a coin, not like it matters.
Cubs at DBacks: Being an NL West guy, the fact that AZ won the west amazes me. THEY WERE OUTSCORED ON THE SEASON BY 20 RUNS! How has this not been in the news more? When has a division winner ever not outscored their opponents? Every other playoff team smoked their opposition yet AZ is minus 20 runs on the year? What does this mean? Only one B.Webb and lots of green kids makes for a Cubbies visit to the NLCS. I don't think this will even be close. Cubs in 4 at worst. (Soriano, Lee, ARam, Zambrano, Lilly, Bartman, etc.)
COL/SD winner v. Philly: San Diego has no offense and their only healthy players are all utility type guys playing over their heads, that ends in Oct. Colorado is the feel good story but they just don't have the pitching or bullpen (I don't think) to keep up with Philly. Hamels is back, Howard, Rollins and Utley lead a great offense and they have enough poo to throw against the wall to come up with some pitching to beat either NL West team. Phills take this series.
NLCS: Cubs over Philly (showing money can buy happiness and keeping Philly guy angry and bitter)
World Series: Angels over Cubs, no Bartman required.
(I reserve the right to completely deny the above the predictions were made and select new teams if needed.)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Is there anyone out there that thinks the NL has a legit chance to win this thing? Philly? The Cubs? D-Backs? Ha ha, NO! The World Series Champ should be coming from the AL and it will be quite a race.
Angels v. Red Sox: Everyone knows by now that ANA has trouble against Boston. For some reason while ANA owns NY, Boston owns ANA. I think that could change this season. The Halos have been pretty solid and have a 1-2 in Lackey and Escobar that can easily match up with Beckett and DiceK or Schilling. Mix in Jered Weaver and some luck with Saunders, E.Santana or even Colon and the Angels should have better pitching than Boston. Mix in KRod and their previous Oct. experience, the Angels are looking like a strong ALCS bet. Boston started strong but barely held off NY, have injury and sucking issues with Manny, Nancy Drew, Gagne, and Coco B. Average. I'm taking Anaheim.
Yanks v. Indians: Cleveland enters Oct. with MLB's best record and "home field advantage." Whatever. The Yanks slept through April and May, woke up and played Bronx Bomber baseball for 4 months and easily took the 4th playoff spot. Yes their pitching is TERRIBLE but this is October which means Jeter, Clemens, Posada, Rivera, etc. Heck, if ARod just doesn't suck, NY will score about 5-8 runs a game. BUT, Cleveland does have some great pitching. CC and Carmona have been lights out but is that enough? Hafner, Sizemor, VMart and Garko are all young and without much, if any, playoff experience. I want Cleveland, I'd like to pick Cleveland but the friggin Yanks are the Yanks. I'll begrudgingly take NY.
ALCS pick - ANA over NY.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Flip a coin, not like it matters.
Cubs at DBacks: Being an NL West guy, the fact that AZ won the west amazes me. THEY WERE OUTSCORED ON THE SEASON BY 20 RUNS! How has this not been in the news more? When has a division winner ever not outscored their opponents? Every other playoff team smoked their opposition yet AZ is minus 20 runs on the year? What does this mean? Only one B.Webb and lots of green kids makes for a Cubbies visit to the NLCS. I don't think this will even be close. Cubs in 4 at worst. (Soriano, Lee, ARam, Zambrano, Lilly, Bartman, etc.)
COL/SD winner v. Philly: San Diego has no offense and their only healthy players are all utility type guys playing over their heads, that ends in Oct. Colorado is the feel good story but they just don't have the pitching or bullpen (I don't think) to keep up with Philly. Hamels is back, Howard, Rollins and Utley lead a great offense and they have enough poo to throw against the wall to come up with some pitching to beat either NL West team. Phills take this series.
NLCS: Cubs over Philly (showing money can buy happiness and keeping Philly guy angry and bitter)
World Series: Angels over Cubs, no Bartman required.
(I reserve the right to completely deny the above the predictions were made and select new teams if needed.)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
TAPS should be playing right now
ITS OVER FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2007 is in the can and now we can start looking towards 08. The Colorado Rockies made this early vacation possible by kicking our teeth in during a day-night doubleheader yesterday. I guess there is a .0000000035% chance we can still make the playoffs but it requires winning every single game for the rest of the season. For a team that has not won more than 5 in a row, a 10+ streak seems a TAD unrealistic.
So, what to do now? I'm going to assume against Frank's better judgment he keeps Ned and Grady around for yet another year of quality moves in the front office and on the field. Why upgrade when both guys have totally proved they can out-think a rock.
The infield can welcome back Martin, Furcal and Loney and I'm pretty sure we're stuck with Kent another year. No clue what we do at 3B with Nomar, LaRoche or Shea Hillencancer. Any luck, we dump Kent on some contender and let Abreu play somewhere. What would I do at 3B next year? PAY AROD 35 MILLION DOLLARS OVER 7 years and bring him here. I don't care if it sounds crazy, I'd do it. I think he could thrive here in a lower pressure environment but with a lot of talent still around him.
In the OF we're stuck with Noodle Armed Pierre for another 4 GREAT years. Nothing like a CF that needs the LF to cut-off his throws from shallow CF. I'd probably keep Ethier in LF and Kemp in RF. They have too much potential so just let them play full time and quit platooning. Say goodbye to Gonzo unless he wants to be OF4.
The rotation should be ok once everyone is healthy.*** Penny, Lowe and Billingsly are a solid 3. If**************** Schmidt can bounce back, he'd join that group too. Our #5 looks to be Loseriaza but I'd also pick up Wolf's option or try to bring him back. He was solid at the beginning and you can never have too many starting pitchers. Anything to avoid using Hendrickson or signing Tomko clones.
For the bully I'm ok with Saito/Brox or Brox/Saito finishing games. I would upgrade the rest though because Seanez is a GAS CAN and Proctor's arm is due to fall off.
So basically we're looking at the same team, another year older, with the hope of ARod. Even with no ARod, this team should hopefully progress and pickup a few more wins next year. With ARod, we're a World Series eligible team, without a big pickup, we're playing for the wild card, AGAIN. Can't wait for March huh?
So, what to do now? I'm going to assume against Frank's better judgment he keeps Ned and Grady around for yet another year of quality moves in the front office and on the field. Why upgrade when both guys have totally proved they can out-think a rock.
The infield can welcome back Martin, Furcal and Loney and I'm pretty sure we're stuck with Kent another year. No clue what we do at 3B with Nomar, LaRoche or Shea Hillencancer. Any luck, we dump Kent on some contender and let Abreu play somewhere. What would I do at 3B next year? PAY AROD 35 MILLION DOLLARS OVER 7 years and bring him here. I don't care if it sounds crazy, I'd do it. I think he could thrive here in a lower pressure environment but with a lot of talent still around him.
In the OF we're stuck with Noodle Armed Pierre for another 4 GREAT years. Nothing like a CF that needs the LF to cut-off his throws from shallow CF. I'd probably keep Ethier in LF and Kemp in RF. They have too much potential so just let them play full time and quit platooning. Say goodbye to Gonzo unless he wants to be OF4.
The rotation should be ok once everyone is healthy.*** Penny, Lowe and Billingsly are a solid 3. If**************** Schmidt can bounce back, he'd join that group too. Our #5 looks to be Loseriaza but I'd also pick up Wolf's option or try to bring him back. He was solid at the beginning and you can never have too many starting pitchers. Anything to avoid using Hendrickson or signing Tomko clones.
For the bully I'm ok with Saito/Brox or Brox/Saito finishing games. I would upgrade the rest though because Seanez is a GAS CAN and Proctor's arm is due to fall off.
So basically we're looking at the same team, another year older, with the hope of ARod. Even with no ARod, this team should hopefully progress and pickup a few more wins next year. With ARod, we're a World Series eligible team, without a big pickup, we're playing for the wild card, AGAIN. Can't wait for March huh?
Friday, September 14, 2007
Total Nonsense
Bill Plaschke of the LA Times wrote today that there should be NO talk of replacing Grady Little this offseason if we do not make the playoffs. For starters, if LA loses 2 of 3 to AZ this weekend and misses the playoffs, I'll bet you its Plaschke writing the Fire Grady article in October. He's such a hack sometimes. The Steve Hartman of print journalism.
Grady Little is not a great manager. He may be ok at keeping a team together and doing something with a whole lot of crap but he's not this baseball genius. He either leaves pitchers in too long, not long enough or makes other mistakes. Its not like after ANY win we're saying, "Damn, Grady really managed that game well and won it for us!"
Anyway this is of note now because he pulled Penny last weekend and cost us. He left in Loaiza too long this week and cost us. He almost left Wells in too long last night yet we got lucky. Now I hear on Tuesday in the thin air of Colorado, we're starting Wells in a doubleheader and then bringing him back on 3 days rest vs. AZ??????????????? Jake Peavy, the probable NL Cy Young got destroyed on 3 days rest and didn't have one of those starts in COL. Yet we're going to throw out a fat, 44 yr old with diabetes, after pitching in COL on 3 days rest in what could be the biggest series of the season? COME ON! Don't be stupid! If I had a bookie I'd wager 10k on this game if it happens.
Nice 2 of 3 vs. SD but if we don't sweep AZ, its not going to matter. CLUTCH UP!
Grady Little is not a great manager. He may be ok at keeping a team together and doing something with a whole lot of crap but he's not this baseball genius. He either leaves pitchers in too long, not long enough or makes other mistakes. Its not like after ANY win we're saying, "Damn, Grady really managed that game well and won it for us!"
Anyway this is of note now because he pulled Penny last weekend and cost us. He left in Loaiza too long this week and cost us. He almost left Wells in too long last night yet we got lucky. Now I hear on Tuesday in the thin air of Colorado, we're starting Wells in a doubleheader and then bringing him back on 3 days rest vs. AZ??????????????? Jake Peavy, the probable NL Cy Young got destroyed on 3 days rest and didn't have one of those starts in COL. Yet we're going to throw out a fat, 44 yr old with diabetes, after pitching in COL on 3 days rest in what could be the biggest series of the season? COME ON! Don't be stupid! If I had a bookie I'd wager 10k on this game if it happens.
Nice 2 of 3 vs. SD but if we don't sweep AZ, its not going to matter. CLUTCH UP!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Looking towards 2008
Well, after this weekend's choke job in SF and last night's loss, or should I say, butt kicking by the Padres, I think its safe to say this season is probably over. About our only hope is to beat SD in the next 2 (surrrrrrrrrrrrre) and then to sweep AZ this weekend (highly unlikely). Its time to sit down Gonzo and Nomar, to give LaRoche, Lu, Ethier and Kemp more ABs. Also, based on the last week, maybe Broxton needs the rest of the season off because his arm is as dead as Tomko's. We could of and should have beat SF 3 times.
I am going to write Webster's Dictionary to see if "pulling a Dodgers" can be added to the vernacular. The definition would be: when one team in baseball gets players on base, in scoring position, with favorable counts and yet never, ever, ever scores those runs. We left 24 guys on base yesterday. The bases were loaded or we at least had 2 guys on several times with the batter then doing nothing. Weak popouts, strikeouts, just total failure to do anything productive. One other note on this point, can we just electrocute any player from here on out that SLIDES into First Base?!?!?! There have been scientific studies that PROVE this slows you down and makes it MORE likely you will be out and not SAFE!!! (Andre, you're first!!!!)
And finally, here's another F U to McCourt and MLB. I just received my email to "register" for the chance to buy playoff tickets. Ah, register? You mean I cannot line up with 200 other Doyers fans at my local ticketbastard or the stadium to buy the tickets? This is ridiculous. MLB has pretty much killed any chance for Joe Fan to get tickets to games for face value. We used to be able to line up or call or maybe be the first through the internet but now its all luck. I'm sure preference is given to season ticket holders and other groups that buy many tickets in bulk so the rest of us get to pay double on Ebay or Stub Hub to watch us lose yet another playoff game. OH WAIT, we're not playing in the playoffs this year (thanks to the last 6 days) so who cares!
I am going to write Webster's Dictionary to see if "pulling a Dodgers" can be added to the vernacular. The definition would be: when one team in baseball gets players on base, in scoring position, with favorable counts and yet never, ever, ever scores those runs. We left 24 guys on base yesterday. The bases were loaded or we at least had 2 guys on several times with the batter then doing nothing. Weak popouts, strikeouts, just total failure to do anything productive. One other note on this point, can we just electrocute any player from here on out that SLIDES into First Base?!?!?! There have been scientific studies that PROVE this slows you down and makes it MORE likely you will be out and not SAFE!!! (Andre, you're first!!!!)
And finally, here's another F U to McCourt and MLB. I just received my email to "register" for the chance to buy playoff tickets. Ah, register? You mean I cannot line up with 200 other Doyers fans at my local ticketbastard or the stadium to buy the tickets? This is ridiculous. MLB has pretty much killed any chance for Joe Fan to get tickets to games for face value. We used to be able to line up or call or maybe be the first through the internet but now its all luck. I'm sure preference is given to season ticket holders and other groups that buy many tickets in bulk so the rest of us get to pay double on Ebay or Stub Hub to watch us lose yet another playoff game. OH WAIT, we're not playing in the playoffs this year (thanks to the last 6 days) so who cares!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
I'll take credit for the current streak
After watching LA lose two to SD, I took the wife and some friends down to SD to will Chad Billingsly to a victory over my wife's beloved Padres. Tough luck honey, I win again!
They followed that big Sunday win up with 2 more wins in Chi-town (so far) with Loaiza looking good and Peso bouncing back nicely! For us to have any chance, the hitting needs to get red hot, Lowe, Loaiza, Penny and Billingsly have to keep up the good pitching and keep us in the games. A few HRs or some more SBs wouldn't hurt either. We have 2 more in Chicago (hoping for a split) and then 3 in SF (hoping for 2 of 3). On that note, does Bonds still play? I haven't heard much from him in weeks. LOVE IT!
They followed that big Sunday win up with 2 more wins in Chi-town (so far) with Loaiza looking good and Peso bouncing back nicely! For us to have any chance, the hitting needs to get red hot, Lowe, Loaiza, Penny and Billingsly have to keep up the good pitching and keep us in the games. A few HRs or some more SBs wouldn't hurt either. We have 2 more in Chicago (hoping for a split) and then 3 in SF (hoping for 2 of 3). On that note, does Bonds still play? I haven't heard much from him in weeks. LOVE IT!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Don't get carried away now
Yes 4 in a row is nice but it was against the NATIONALS. Yes, one of the worst teams in all of baseball. AND we were losing in 2 of the games by a margin we do not usually overcome.
On a good note, to follow up the Boomer Wells signing, Dead Head Ned plucked Esteban Loaiza for free off the A's roster. I guess I shouldn't say "free" because we do have to pay him 8.5 million over the next season and a 1/4. Oh well, hopefully he'll be better than Tomko and Hendrickson.
On to San Diego now. The Pads are presently about to sweep AZ out of first place. We also play like shit in SD and SD seems to own us in any big game/series. (Except for the tail end of last year! 4 HRs in a row!) Wells goes Friday vs. some kid with a 7.30 ERA. This should favor us but the kid could easily shut out the Dodgers while the Pads feast on Wells. Saturday is a no-chancer. Peavy vs. Lowe. Victory to Padres. Sunday is Billingstudly vs Germano. I like our chances. Here's hoping for a clutch 2 out of 3 because we head out to play the Cubs in CHI next.
Oh yeah, bet on Milton Bradley to bat .750 with 3 HRs and about 10 RBIs this weekend regardless of how his team plays.
On a good note, to follow up the Boomer Wells signing, Dead Head Ned plucked Esteban Loaiza for free off the A's roster. I guess I shouldn't say "free" because we do have to pay him 8.5 million over the next season and a 1/4. Oh well, hopefully he'll be better than Tomko and Hendrickson.
On to San Diego now. The Pads are presently about to sweep AZ out of first place. We also play like shit in SD and SD seems to own us in any big game/series. (Except for the tail end of last year! 4 HRs in a row!) Wells goes Friday vs. some kid with a 7.30 ERA. This should favor us but the kid could easily shut out the Dodgers while the Pads feast on Wells. Saturday is a no-chancer. Peavy vs. Lowe. Victory to Padres. Sunday is Billingstudly vs Germano. I like our chances. Here's hoping for a clutch 2 out of 3 because we head out to play the Cubs in CHI next.
Oh yeah, bet on Milton Bradley to bat .750 with 3 HRs and about 10 RBIs this weekend regardless of how his team plays.
Monday, August 27, 2007
A Day that will live in Infamy
Some would sight to the 4th of July, D-Day, V-Day, Super Bowl Sunday, Opening Day for baseball and Christmas as great dates. Yeah, those are all well and good but you know what day goes down as better than all those?
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007!
The day the Dodgers cut loose that sack of crap, Brett Tomko!!!!!!! Two years OVERDUE! OH HAPPY DAY ANYWAY! Ding done the wicked witch is gone! May he bring his lack of skills, heart and guts to another NL West team so that we can begin to get back all that he has cost us in 1.5 years!
SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007!
The day the Dodgers cut loose that sack of crap, Brett Tomko!!!!!!! Two years OVERDUE! OH HAPPY DAY ANYWAY! Ding done the wicked witch is gone! May he bring his lack of skills, heart and guts to another NL West team so that we can begin to get back all that he has cost us in 1.5 years!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Loser Re-treads
Afraid to win? Afraid to not be like every other team? Come on Dodgers, what is this David Wells crap? Really, he's going to be our 4th starter and get us to the playoffs?
Why is it that so many teams, Dodgers included, would rather keep running out a bum like Tomko, Hendrickson or Wells, when you know what they are going to give you, instead of taking a chance on a kid with upside? Someone please explain this to me.
Wells in 22 games for SD, pitching at home in PETCO PARK (!!!????!!!!??!!) on a 2nd place team was 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA. This is an upgrade?
Down on the farm LA has 1 guy that has been here before and 3 high level, high ceiling prospects, all ready to give it a go. D.J. Houlton, while not an ace, pitched well for us a couple years ago and is currently 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA at AAA. First Round Sandwich pick from a couple years ago, Justin Orenduff is 8-4 with a 3.86 ERA between AA and AAA. Stud lefty Clayton Kershaw and local Long Beach product James McDonald are both tearing through the system.
I'm sorry, when did winning a minor league game, division or title become a higher priority than winning the World Series. Does anyone remember Fernando Valenzuela? Or Ramon Martinez? Or heck, Pedro Martinez? All kids when they were brought up and all turned out pretty well. My point is, you know what kind of crap Wells and Tomko will give you. 5 Innings, probably give up anywhere from 4-6 runs and the pressure will be on a still weak offense. Go out on a limb, use the kids, see what happens. Who cares if you start their "free agency clock" a year sooner. If they are good, you'll pay them, if they aren't, no loss. Quit throwing the same old shit against the wall hoping it will stick and then be surprised when it slides right off, again.
Why is it that so many teams, Dodgers included, would rather keep running out a bum like Tomko, Hendrickson or Wells, when you know what they are going to give you, instead of taking a chance on a kid with upside? Someone please explain this to me.
Wells in 22 games for SD, pitching at home in PETCO PARK (!!!????!!!!??!!) on a 2nd place team was 5-8 with a 5.54 ERA. This is an upgrade?
Down on the farm LA has 1 guy that has been here before and 3 high level, high ceiling prospects, all ready to give it a go. D.J. Houlton, while not an ace, pitched well for us a couple years ago and is currently 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA at AAA. First Round Sandwich pick from a couple years ago, Justin Orenduff is 8-4 with a 3.86 ERA between AA and AAA. Stud lefty Clayton Kershaw and local Long Beach product James McDonald are both tearing through the system.
I'm sorry, when did winning a minor league game, division or title become a higher priority than winning the World Series. Does anyone remember Fernando Valenzuela? Or Ramon Martinez? Or heck, Pedro Martinez? All kids when they were brought up and all turned out pretty well. My point is, you know what kind of crap Wells and Tomko will give you. 5 Innings, probably give up anywhere from 4-6 runs and the pressure will be on a still weak offense. Go out on a limb, use the kids, see what happens. Who cares if you start their "free agency clock" a year sooner. If they are good, you'll pay them, if they aren't, no loss. Quit throwing the same old shit against the wall hoping it will stick and then be surprised when it slides right off, again.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
M.I.A.
Where have I been the last month you ask? Well, much like the Dodgers, I took the last 4 weeks off. Took the CA Bar Exam, had a vacation, ignored the slumping jackasses and now am back to reality. Ugh!
We suck. What other words can describe this joke job. I feel like the Angels circa their title. End of July, we're in first place, now we're in 4th with seemingly no hope to crawl out. How fast it can go wrong on you.
What's wrong in LA? Well for starters our pitchers crapped the bed, Grady is an idiot and Ned makes terrible moves. The fact that Tomko and Hendrickson keep making starts just BOGGLES the mind. Penny is fine, Lowe pitches well but his teammates hate his girlfriend so they tank for him and Billingsly looks great. The rest suck. Will Wolf bounce back? Who knows. I am ready to start the Clayton Kershaw era NOW! (He's our uber pitching prospect in AA that can deal.) Will we see him though? Doubtful because Ned has a chubby for Tomsuck and Hendricksuck.
The hitting also seemed to quit too. I was ready to anoint Bill Mueller the Leo Mazzone of hitting coaches because we were doing so good but now it feels like we haven't scored since July. (Well actually, considering 4 shutouts or whatever in a week, we really haven't scored much!)
Where the hell did Russell Martin go? Just as I was about to start his MVP campaign, the guy went AWOL. Is banging Alyssa Milano that tiring? If so, give her back to Penny. Now Nomar goes on the DL for pulling a tongue while arguing with an ump. We sign Hillencancer and trade for another Giant (Sweeney), uck! I'm hating this team!
Dump the old guys, bring up the kids so if we're going to suck, at least we suck and see how they respond. Is it football season yet?
We suck. What other words can describe this joke job. I feel like the Angels circa their title. End of July, we're in first place, now we're in 4th with seemingly no hope to crawl out. How fast it can go wrong on you.
What's wrong in LA? Well for starters our pitchers crapped the bed, Grady is an idiot and Ned makes terrible moves. The fact that Tomko and Hendrickson keep making starts just BOGGLES the mind. Penny is fine, Lowe pitches well but his teammates hate his girlfriend so they tank for him and Billingsly looks great. The rest suck. Will Wolf bounce back? Who knows. I am ready to start the Clayton Kershaw era NOW! (He's our uber pitching prospect in AA that can deal.) Will we see him though? Doubtful because Ned has a chubby for Tomsuck and Hendricksuck.
The hitting also seemed to quit too. I was ready to anoint Bill Mueller the Leo Mazzone of hitting coaches because we were doing so good but now it feels like we haven't scored since July. (Well actually, considering 4 shutouts or whatever in a week, we really haven't scored much!)
Where the hell did Russell Martin go? Just as I was about to start his MVP campaign, the guy went AWOL. Is banging Alyssa Milano that tiring? If so, give her back to Penny. Now Nomar goes on the DL for pulling a tongue while arguing with an ump. We sign Hillencancer and trade for another Giant (Sweeney), uck! I'm hating this team!
Dump the old guys, bring up the kids so if we're going to suck, at least we suck and see how they respond. Is it football season yet?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
GIANTS PITCHING, a San Francisco treat
Fresh off the All Star break the Boys in Blue headed up to the dump by the bay for 3 games with everyone's favorite team of AARP losers, the SF Giants and Barroid Bonds. I was certain Bonds would get all 5 HRs he needed to pass Aaron off us this weekend because we are usually dumb enough to pitch him, he rapes teams that pitch to him and he hates LA. What really happened? Bonds went 0 for the series!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (He played in all 3 games too!)
Man he looked old and crappy. Go get some of the new "clear" if you are ever going to get those next 5. Another guy that is starting to show his age, Kent. Outside of the bomb he crushed on Saturday, he looks like he is approaching 50 and fast. No more range in the field, a slow bat, this does not bode well.
As for the series, we exploded for 6 runs in the 9th on Friday to beat SF. On Saturday, we had a nice lead until Randy Winn did a Gibson impersonation by getting nailed in the leg, hobbling around, then blasting a Grand Slam to get SF within 1. In the 9th Bonds walked to get on and eventually scored. In extras though, LA prevailed and Rudy Gascaneaez nailed down a save (I thought I was high - no way did this happen). Finally on Sunday we had Brett Tomkrapp on the mound which meant me, my brother and every other Dodger fan expected a loss. It even prompted my brother to state that if, "Tomko gets a win today, I'll say nothing but positive things about the team for the next month."
Sure enough, we lead 1-0, only to have the WORST infield defense in baseball this year help Tomko give back 2 and give SF hope. In the 4th and 6th we added 2 runs an inning and hung on to win 5-3 meaning a SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP, 11 in a row for us in SF, an ANGRY Barry, 1st Place all to ourselves and one month of my brother being pleasant!!!! OUTSTANDING!
Next up, we get a chance to give Philly losses 10,001, 10,002, and 10,003!
Man he looked old and crappy. Go get some of the new "clear" if you are ever going to get those next 5. Another guy that is starting to show his age, Kent. Outside of the bomb he crushed on Saturday, he looks like he is approaching 50 and fast. No more range in the field, a slow bat, this does not bode well.
As for the series, we exploded for 6 runs in the 9th on Friday to beat SF. On Saturday, we had a nice lead until Randy Winn did a Gibson impersonation by getting nailed in the leg, hobbling around, then blasting a Grand Slam to get SF within 1. In the 9th Bonds walked to get on and eventually scored. In extras though, LA prevailed and Rudy Gascaneaez nailed down a save (I thought I was high - no way did this happen). Finally on Sunday we had Brett Tomkrapp on the mound which meant me, my brother and every other Dodger fan expected a loss. It even prompted my brother to state that if, "Tomko gets a win today, I'll say nothing but positive things about the team for the next month."
Sure enough, we lead 1-0, only to have the WORST infield defense in baseball this year help Tomko give back 2 and give SF hope. In the 4th and 6th we added 2 runs an inning and hung on to win 5-3 meaning a SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP, 11 in a row for us in SF, an ANGRY Barry, 1st Place all to ourselves and one month of my brother being pleasant!!!! OUTSTANDING!
Next up, we get a chance to give Philly losses 10,001, 10,002, and 10,003!
Monday, July 9, 2007
FIRST HALF GRADES
Its that time of year when every yahoo comes out and ranks how teams faired pre-All Star break in the first half of the season. Why should I be any different.
I'd give the Dodgers a solid B+ so far.
I was all ready to go off on them, complain about a bunch of stuff but then I looked at our record, we're 49-40, 1 game back of San Diego and all is well, I guess.
My main complaints are a 1-5 vs. Anaheim and losing 4 in a row this last week to ATL/FLA. We had several opportunities to take back 1st and let them go by.
Team MVP = Russell Martin. Flat out stud. I'd give him a 6 year extension TODAY! (Penny's been close but he did this last year and then had an epic collapse that almost left him off the playoff roster. He's got to earn that trust back!)
Team DUD = Geeez, this is hard because Furcal, Kent, Nomar and Schmidt have all performed WELL BELOW expectations. I'd have to go with Schmidt though. Pay a guy big bucks to be your 1-2 and he sucks then goes on the DL for the season. NICE! Could you imagine if he was healthy? Schmidt, Lowe, Penny, Wolf and Billingsly? That would be outstanding. Instead we get some NASTY combo of Hendricksucksen, Tomkrap, and Oh No Kuo. GRRRREAT.
INF = C: Nomar looks like a high school kid now and lost any and all power. Kent looks about 49 and outside of a good week here and there, plays like he's 49. Furcal has been a total failure coming off a great season. No power, no speed, no hits. And 3B has been a revolving door at the Chicken Ranch. Nomar is there now so that Loney can play which is fine with me.
OF = B: Kemp/Ethier have been solid out there. Gonzo is Opposite Kent and looking like he's 29, not 39. Pierre has been a huge pain in the ass. Sure he's 2nd in MLB in steals and his Hit #s look good but every throw he makes bounces 3 times before reaching the cut-off guy and he's choked in the clutch countless times. PLUS Ichiro has made it known he'd be interested in LA (or T.Hunter or A.Jones) yet we're stuck with this glorified Dave Roberts for 5 years. NICE ONE NED!
SP = B+: Penny, Wolf (pre-mid June), and Lowe have been solid. Billingsly is also looking good. The rest, see above.
RP = A: Saito and Broxton (and Billingsly when there) have been stoppers. Rudy Gascaneaz is hanging around and Drunko Beimel seems to be on the wagon for now. Sadly, Tomko gets to sit out there and sometimes pitch which usually ends badly. Plus we have Tsao, Stults, Houton and a bunch of other AAA arms filling roster space.
Outlook = Playoffs are likely at this pace. Whoopee though. Win a series in the playoffs and not just 1 game since 1988 and I'll feel better. A minor move and this team could easily take the NL but I don't see us winning the World Series unless someone goes Gibson for us.
I'd give the Dodgers a solid B+ so far.
I was all ready to go off on them, complain about a bunch of stuff but then I looked at our record, we're 49-40, 1 game back of San Diego and all is well, I guess.
My main complaints are a 1-5 vs. Anaheim and losing 4 in a row this last week to ATL/FLA. We had several opportunities to take back 1st and let them go by.
Team MVP = Russell Martin. Flat out stud. I'd give him a 6 year extension TODAY! (Penny's been close but he did this last year and then had an epic collapse that almost left him off the playoff roster. He's got to earn that trust back!)
Team DUD = Geeez, this is hard because Furcal, Kent, Nomar and Schmidt have all performed WELL BELOW expectations. I'd have to go with Schmidt though. Pay a guy big bucks to be your 1-2 and he sucks then goes on the DL for the season. NICE! Could you imagine if he was healthy? Schmidt, Lowe, Penny, Wolf and Billingsly? That would be outstanding. Instead we get some NASTY combo of Hendricksucksen, Tomkrap, and Oh No Kuo. GRRRREAT.
INF = C: Nomar looks like a high school kid now and lost any and all power. Kent looks about 49 and outside of a good week here and there, plays like he's 49. Furcal has been a total failure coming off a great season. No power, no speed, no hits. And 3B has been a revolving door at the Chicken Ranch. Nomar is there now so that Loney can play which is fine with me.
OF = B: Kemp/Ethier have been solid out there. Gonzo is Opposite Kent and looking like he's 29, not 39. Pierre has been a huge pain in the ass. Sure he's 2nd in MLB in steals and his Hit #s look good but every throw he makes bounces 3 times before reaching the cut-off guy and he's choked in the clutch countless times. PLUS Ichiro has made it known he'd be interested in LA (or T.Hunter or A.Jones) yet we're stuck with this glorified Dave Roberts for 5 years. NICE ONE NED!
SP = B+: Penny, Wolf (pre-mid June), and Lowe have been solid. Billingsly is also looking good. The rest, see above.
RP = A: Saito and Broxton (and Billingsly when there) have been stoppers. Rudy Gascaneaz is hanging around and Drunko Beimel seems to be on the wagon for now. Sadly, Tomko gets to sit out there and sometimes pitch which usually ends badly. Plus we have Tsao, Stults, Houton and a bunch of other AAA arms filling roster space.
Outlook = Playoffs are likely at this pace. Whoopee though. Win a series in the playoffs and not just 1 game since 1988 and I'll feel better. A minor move and this team could easily take the NL but I don't see us winning the World Series unless someone goes Gibson for us.
Monday, July 2, 2007
All Stars but Big Yawns
So, who's excited for the All Star game up in SF this year??? Waiting........ Still waiting........ But hey, it decides who gets home field advantage in the World Series!?!?! Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Yeah, that's what I thought.
CONGRATS to Russell Martin (Very deserving), T.Saito (also deserving) and Brad Penny (uh oh - the hex is back) on being reps for the Dodgers up in that game no one cares about by the city on a bay. Penny started the game last year, after a very similar first half as he's had this year and then went Rudy Seangascanez on the rest of the season for us. Here's hoping Peavy has that luck this year instead of Penny. Props to Russell the most though. Dude is in his 2nd year, catches about 95% of the games (Lieberthal has to be LOVING life - greatest job in the world, backup C to an All Star), calls great games, throws out runners and brings a big stick (as well as wheels) to a position and team greatly in need of it. He's not only an All Star, he'd get my vote for NL MVP today, either him or Prince Fielder.
I think the All Star Game is just a giant mess of confusion. Do we want lineups of "Stars," you know, guys you want to see play or do we want lineups of players having the best 1st halves this season? When I was younger I always got pissed off when Ozzie Smith or Cal Ripken, even in their off years, made the team by a landslide. I thought you should reward those "hot" players for a good start, not anymore. I want to see the elite players playing, the shoe guys, the Boras clients, the big money, big headed warriors. I AM GLAD BONDS IS ON THE NL TEAM. I hate him more than any athlete in any sport yet he belongs in this game. Its in SF and he's about to break Aaron's HR record. Dude belongs!
I'm also ok with making each team send one guy but if you're going to do that, expand the rosters even more. Gil Meche and Brian Fuentes can be on the team but there should also be room for Randy, Rocket, Oswalt, Howard and Rollins. Bud needs to fix this problem. Look at the NL OF - Bonds, Beltran and Griffey, does that not drip All Star? Yet we have D.Young instead of young masher Ryan Howard?? If baseball wants to approach the NFL in terms of popularity again, you need to MARKET the stars. Especially in a year that we celebrate Jackie Robinson, how can you not try to include some of the games bright, Black players. How else will the game grow in the inner cities again? Of course if you ask Gary Sheffield, MLB prefers Dominicans over Blacks anyway. Regardless, put more of the Super Stars in and find a way to raise the stakes, more so than HFA, to bring this back to the exciting times of Rose running over a catcher or Bo going yard!
Congrats again and good luck to our Dodgers in the game!
CONGRATS to Russell Martin (Very deserving), T.Saito (also deserving) and Brad Penny (uh oh - the hex is back) on being reps for the Dodgers up in that game no one cares about by the city on a bay. Penny started the game last year, after a very similar first half as he's had this year and then went Rudy Seangascanez on the rest of the season for us. Here's hoping Peavy has that luck this year instead of Penny. Props to Russell the most though. Dude is in his 2nd year, catches about 95% of the games (Lieberthal has to be LOVING life - greatest job in the world, backup C to an All Star), calls great games, throws out runners and brings a big stick (as well as wheels) to a position and team greatly in need of it. He's not only an All Star, he'd get my vote for NL MVP today, either him or Prince Fielder.
I think the All Star Game is just a giant mess of confusion. Do we want lineups of "Stars," you know, guys you want to see play or do we want lineups of players having the best 1st halves this season? When I was younger I always got pissed off when Ozzie Smith or Cal Ripken, even in their off years, made the team by a landslide. I thought you should reward those "hot" players for a good start, not anymore. I want to see the elite players playing, the shoe guys, the Boras clients, the big money, big headed warriors. I AM GLAD BONDS IS ON THE NL TEAM. I hate him more than any athlete in any sport yet he belongs in this game. Its in SF and he's about to break Aaron's HR record. Dude belongs!
I'm also ok with making each team send one guy but if you're going to do that, expand the rosters even more. Gil Meche and Brian Fuentes can be on the team but there should also be room for Randy, Rocket, Oswalt, Howard and Rollins. Bud needs to fix this problem. Look at the NL OF - Bonds, Beltran and Griffey, does that not drip All Star? Yet we have D.Young instead of young masher Ryan Howard?? If baseball wants to approach the NFL in terms of popularity again, you need to MARKET the stars. Especially in a year that we celebrate Jackie Robinson, how can you not try to include some of the games bright, Black players. How else will the game grow in the inner cities again? Of course if you ask Gary Sheffield, MLB prefers Dominicans over Blacks anyway. Regardless, put more of the Super Stars in and find a way to raise the stakes, more so than HFA, to bring this back to the exciting times of Rose running over a catcher or Bo going yard!
Congrats again and good luck to our Dodgers in the game!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
San Diego is our Daddy
Another game against the hated Padres, another loss. This time H.Kuo started the game by dousing the mound and plate in gasoline, lighting a match and up in flames the game went. At one point, we're down 7-2. Turn it off you say? Nah, I have faith in the kids. What happens?
Pierre gets 3 hits and steals 3 bases, we chip at the lead until its 7-6 in the 9th and then the old guys come in a choke it away for good. I feel like if you go back 5 years and look at LA's record vs the Padres, we're about 33-66 but if you look at our record vs the rest of the West, its probably at a good .600 winning percentage.
Why can't we beat em? Its because they bring every Ex-Dodger down there to play for a year or two, milk them for secrets, signs, whatever and then use that info for evil. (To prove my point, they just actually traded FOR Milton Bradley....huh?!?!) How else can you explain it. They are not a better team than us, yet they continue to OWN us. What makes this worse, is I'm married to a family of Padres fans. I think it might be all my fault. Bad karma.
Peavy should no-hit us tonight but we should bounce back and win on Sunday. Place your bets accordingly.
**********UPDATE
I hate to brag but I was pretty spot on with those predictions above!!!
Pierre gets 3 hits and steals 3 bases, we chip at the lead until its 7-6 in the 9th and then the old guys come in a choke it away for good. I feel like if you go back 5 years and look at LA's record vs the Padres, we're about 33-66 but if you look at our record vs the rest of the West, its probably at a good .600 winning percentage.
Why can't we beat em? Its because they bring every Ex-Dodger down there to play for a year or two, milk them for secrets, signs, whatever and then use that info for evil. (To prove my point, they just actually traded FOR Milton Bradley....huh?!?!) How else can you explain it. They are not a better team than us, yet they continue to OWN us. What makes this worse, is I'm married to a family of Padres fans. I think it might be all my fault. Bad karma.
Peavy should no-hit us tonight but we should bounce back and win on Sunday. Place your bets accordingly.
**********UPDATE
I hate to brag but I was pretty spot on with those predictions above!!!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Anaheim's Bitch
So, 6 games against little brother and only 1 win to show for it. Can we just banish Interleague Play now? The NL just gets its ass kicked every year by the AL and for what? St. Louis which was probably the worst team in the playoffs last year won it all. The novelty has worn off and the scheduling is not balanced.
Observations from this weekend - Lowe looked great. I have never seen him K so many players. Gonzo and Kemp seemed to be dialed in and Nomar is getting hits, just none for extra bases. Baseball Tonight did a little thing on Nomar's swing and showed he is clearly in a funk. He's not using his hips to drive through the ball and he's losing his balance. Hopefully someone on the team saw this and can give him a pointer or two.
Jason Dreifort Schmidt is just a money pit. Something is wrong with the guy. You don't go from working in the mid-90's to barely hitting 87. Yeah he had 4 scoreless innings vs. ANA but if you were there (and I was) he was VERY hittable. Shut it down, cut him open and fix him so that he can pitch next year! Hello, paging Dr. Jobe and Dr. Andrews.
Memo to Pierre and Furcal, you two are NOT power hitters! Your bread and butter is your speed so USE IT! Stop hitting pop-ups in the OF! It should be like in Major League (the Movie) when Willie Mayes Hayes had to do push-ups for every ball hit into the air. These guys need to work the walks, bunt singles, something to get on base.
Put Billingsly in the ROTATION! Schmidt is on the DL so don't you dare Grady, put Tomko or Hendrickson back in the rotation. Chad has been nails all year so let the kid start!
Next up, visiting Toronto (can we leave with Glaus on our team) and Dodgers Florida (TB) so we SHOULD come back 4-2 but who knows what will happen.
Observations from this weekend - Lowe looked great. I have never seen him K so many players. Gonzo and Kemp seemed to be dialed in and Nomar is getting hits, just none for extra bases. Baseball Tonight did a little thing on Nomar's swing and showed he is clearly in a funk. He's not using his hips to drive through the ball and he's losing his balance. Hopefully someone on the team saw this and can give him a pointer or two.
Jason Dreifort Schmidt is just a money pit. Something is wrong with the guy. You don't go from working in the mid-90's to barely hitting 87. Yeah he had 4 scoreless innings vs. ANA but if you were there (and I was) he was VERY hittable. Shut it down, cut him open and fix him so that he can pitch next year! Hello, paging Dr. Jobe and Dr. Andrews.
Memo to Pierre and Furcal, you two are NOT power hitters! Your bread and butter is your speed so USE IT! Stop hitting pop-ups in the OF! It should be like in Major League (the Movie) when Willie Mayes Hayes had to do push-ups for every ball hit into the air. These guys need to work the walks, bunt singles, something to get on base.
Put Billingsly in the ROTATION! Schmidt is on the DL so don't you dare Grady, put Tomko or Hendrickson back in the rotation. Chad has been nails all year so let the kid start!
Next up, visiting Toronto (can we leave with Glaus on our team) and Dodgers Florida (TB) so we SHOULD come back 4-2 but who knows what will happen.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
BACK 2 BACK 2 BACK
In case any of you missed it, the Dodgers just UNLOADED for BACK TO BACK TO BACK Home Runs courtesy of Wilson Betemit, then Matt Kemp and THE PITCHER Hong Kuo!!!!
After Kuo launched his blast, he then proceeded to flip his bat like he was Barry Bonds and had done this 700+ times already. Dude is going to catch one in the ear hole for stunts like that.
LODUCA Noodle arm update - Kemp stole 2nd on him and he AGAIN threw it to Beltran in CF. Nice toss Pauley!!!!
Currently 3-1 boys from SoCal!
After Kuo launched his blast, he then proceeded to flip his bat like he was Barry Bonds and had done this 700+ times already. Dude is going to catch one in the ear hole for stunts like that.
LODUCA Noodle arm update - Kemp stole 2nd on him and he AGAIN threw it to Beltran in CF. Nice toss Pauley!!!!
Currently 3-1 boys from SoCal!
Closed Door Meetings
Don't you just love hearing that your team had to have the famous "closed door, players only meeting?" Jeeez, the guys are supposed to talk to each other any other time during the year? No way! I guess it only happens after losing 5 of 6 and stinking up the NL West for a week.
Did it work? So far it did.
Last night the Booo Crew came out, promptly fell behind 3-0, and were being No-Hit until the big ol bust himself came up, Juan Pierre. Juan worked a beautiful walk and as soon as he got on, I was saying to myself, run him Grady, RUN HIM!!! MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! Sure enough, Juan takes off for 2nd, followed by Noodle Arm LoDuca throwing the ball into CF. (I think LoDuca is about the only pro with a weaker arm than Pierre. Dave Roberts is close though.) Russell Martin then knocked in Pierre and stole 2nd himself on another poor LoDuca throw. Gonzo doubled in Martin and Ethier picked up Gonzo to tie it at 3-3. Gonzo later doubled again and Big Game James Loney knocked him in for what was the winning run.
Its only one game so lets see how the rest of this week goes but I'd love to see us use our speed to create more opportunities out there. Speed means fastballs for the batters and those can equal big hits. It'll be a tough week with NYM and ANA. The Mets lineup is just so deep and scary and ANA owns us recently. One game at a time......
Did it work? So far it did.
Last night the Booo Crew came out, promptly fell behind 3-0, and were being No-Hit until the big ol bust himself came up, Juan Pierre. Juan worked a beautiful walk and as soon as he got on, I was saying to myself, run him Grady, RUN HIM!!! MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! Sure enough, Juan takes off for 2nd, followed by Noodle Arm LoDuca throwing the ball into CF. (I think LoDuca is about the only pro with a weaker arm than Pierre. Dave Roberts is close though.) Russell Martin then knocked in Pierre and stole 2nd himself on another poor LoDuca throw. Gonzo doubled in Martin and Ethier picked up Gonzo to tie it at 3-3. Gonzo later doubled again and Big Game James Loney knocked him in for what was the winning run.
Its only one game so lets see how the rest of this week goes but I'd love to see us use our speed to create more opportunities out there. Speed means fastballs for the batters and those can equal big hits. It'll be a tough week with NYM and ANA. The Mets lineup is just so deep and scary and ANA owns us recently. One game at a time......
Friday, June 8, 2007
Ground Zero
3 games, 3 losses, at least two in heart breaking fashion. Where do we go now?
In case any of you missed the debacle last night, LA cruised into the 9th with a comfy 5-1 lead, about to salvage a game in SD and go back to LA only .5 back. That was before Jonathon Broxton and his gas can came to the bonfire. Here's the recap:
Geoff Blum started the winning rally by beating out an infield single to second base. Terrmel Sledge reached on an error by first baseman Garciaparra, who fielded his grounder but had the ball pop out of his glove. Marcus Giles singled to left to load the bases, and Paul McAnulty hit a chopper and outraced Garciaparra to the bag for an infield single that brought in the inning's first run. Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run ground-rule double to right-center, Josh Bard was intentionally walked to reload the bases and Mike Cameron's single to center brought in McAnulty to tie the game. Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out for the first out, bringing up Branyan, who walked on a full-count pitch to score Gonzalez. Broxton faced nine batters, allowing five hits and walking two. Thanks Nomar and thanks Jonathon!!!!!
So now we come home for 3 vs. Toronto, including the GREAT Hollywood Stars game (including the loser from Dawson's Creek, was he ever a star???) and Carne Asada Sunday. Yes folks, you can pay even MORE to the Dodgers to have some cheap ass Mexican grub after the game hopefully served by Tomato Saenz. Its not like he's playing or anything.
What is up with the NL West? SD and AZ are playing out of their minds. Normally having the Dodgers 8 games or so above .500, this early, I'd be STOKED but now we're in 3rd place? Yikes! Here's hoping we can do to Canada this weekend what the Ducks did to Canada in the Cup Finals. America Jr. Sucks!
In case any of you missed the debacle last night, LA cruised into the 9th with a comfy 5-1 lead, about to salvage a game in SD and go back to LA only .5 back. That was before Jonathon Broxton and his gas can came to the bonfire. Here's the recap:
Geoff Blum started the winning rally by beating out an infield single to second base. Terrmel Sledge reached on an error by first baseman Garciaparra, who fielded his grounder but had the ball pop out of his glove. Marcus Giles singled to left to load the bases, and Paul McAnulty hit a chopper and outraced Garciaparra to the bag for an infield single that brought in the inning's first run. Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run ground-rule double to right-center, Josh Bard was intentionally walked to reload the bases and Mike Cameron's single to center brought in McAnulty to tie the game. Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out for the first out, bringing up Branyan, who walked on a full-count pitch to score Gonzalez. Broxton faced nine batters, allowing five hits and walking two. Thanks Nomar and thanks Jonathon!!!!!
So now we come home for 3 vs. Toronto, including the GREAT Hollywood Stars game (including the loser from Dawson's Creek, was he ever a star???) and Carne Asada Sunday. Yes folks, you can pay even MORE to the Dodgers to have some cheap ass Mexican grub after the game hopefully served by Tomato Saenz. Its not like he's playing or anything.
What is up with the NL West? SD and AZ are playing out of their minds. Normally having the Dodgers 8 games or so above .500, this early, I'd be STOKED but now we're in 3rd place? Yikes! Here's hoping we can do to Canada this weekend what the Ducks did to Canada in the Cup Finals. America Jr. Sucks!
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
SD SHOWDOWN
The boys in blue head to SD for 3 games this week against a team we hate in a city we play poorly in. I'm doubting our .5 game lead will last until Friday.
This series does mark the return of the Offseason bust #2, Jason Schmidt, after seemingly no rehab, but I guess we are DESPERATE to not have to use Tomko or Hendrickson again. Who's wife did Billingsly nail? Why can't we wake up and slot him into the rotation over those has-beens/never-was.
We'll be facing Young, Maddux and Peavy which is the best SD has to offer, in their house so this could be ugly. Of course, we beat Young like a red headed step child last time so who knows. It is bad Dodgers karma though to face ex-pitchers so Maddux will probably end up with a line like this on Wed. 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 5K and a W......
Rumors are out there that Mark Teixera of TEX might become available for a trade. Could a package of Loney and Billingsly get that done? Would we want to deal with Satan Boras when Mark's contract runs out? What about Nomar? Could he move to 3B? I'd be willing to chance it. This team has less pop than the UCLA Women's Softball team.
This series does mark the return of the Offseason bust #2, Jason Schmidt, after seemingly no rehab, but I guess we are DESPERATE to not have to use Tomko or Hendrickson again. Who's wife did Billingsly nail? Why can't we wake up and slot him into the rotation over those has-beens/never-was.
We'll be facing Young, Maddux and Peavy which is the best SD has to offer, in their house so this could be ugly. Of course, we beat Young like a red headed step child last time so who knows. It is bad Dodgers karma though to face ex-pitchers so Maddux will probably end up with a line like this on Wed. 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 5K and a W......
Rumors are out there that Mark Teixera of TEX might become available for a trade. Could a package of Loney and Billingsly get that done? Would we want to deal with Satan Boras when Mark's contract runs out? What about Nomar? Could he move to 3B? I'd be willing to chance it. This team has less pop than the UCLA Women's Softball team.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Memo to Ned Colletti and any other GM
If your team is struggling and has a MAJOR area of weakness, say the Dodgers and Angels offensive ability, and your team is off to a good start, don't dash our hopes by saying you are NOT trying to improve the team. You should ALWAYS be trying to improve the team.
Troy Glaus is the perfect example. Toronto is hurting and will likely be sellers, Glaus should be available and both local teams have the minor league talent to be part of the conversation. Yet, Dead Head Ned comes out this week saying they don't need Glaus and aren't targeting him. Hmmmm as a fan, what would you want from your GM? To have any hopes dashed before they get going or would you like to be teased and lead on, and then end up with Shea Hillenbrand?
TEASE ME! LIE TO ME! I don't care. Make me think you aren't sleeping at your desk. Be like Scott Boras who says he has 30 offers for Client X, when he really only has 1 and then uses that 1 to bid against themselves resulting in a 7 year 105 million dollar contract for Kevin Brown. I like suspense, I like rumors, I like the hot stove. DON'T DASH MY HOPES.
Ned and Bill, YOUR TEAMS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN IT! Do something or at least tell us you are doing something. Thank you,
All Fans
Troy Glaus is the perfect example. Toronto is hurting and will likely be sellers, Glaus should be available and both local teams have the minor league talent to be part of the conversation. Yet, Dead Head Ned comes out this week saying they don't need Glaus and aren't targeting him. Hmmmm as a fan, what would you want from your GM? To have any hopes dashed before they get going or would you like to be teased and lead on, and then end up with Shea Hillenbrand?
TEASE ME! LIE TO ME! I don't care. Make me think you aren't sleeping at your desk. Be like Scott Boras who says he has 30 offers for Client X, when he really only has 1 and then uses that 1 to bid against themselves resulting in a 7 year 105 million dollar contract for Kevin Brown. I like suspense, I like rumors, I like the hot stove. DON'T DASH MY HOPES.
Ned and Bill, YOUR TEAMS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN IT! Do something or at least tell us you are doing something. Thank you,
All Fans
Swept by the ASS-HALOS
Just a total failure. Did we even send a team to play this weekend? I want I.D. checks on the guys in uniforms. I think the AAA 51's were in town disguised as the Dodgers. Maybe my guys had a better offer, like tickets to see Shrek 3 or they went out to Texas to watch the Spurs-Jazz series, or they were all stuck in MD after wagering obscene amounts of money on Street Sense at the Preakness and coming up short. Regardless, Kent and Lowe were about the only 2 Dodgers to show up and they obviously weren't enough. Chalk one (or 3) up for little brother.
Friday, May 18, 2007
LA vs the POSERS
Ah interleague play. Its a nice novelty to see teams from the NL and AL play each other in games other than the World Series but this could really have a bad effect on the standings. Some teams like the Dodgers luck out and get to play ANA, TB and TOR whereas other teams have to face the A's, NYY and BOS. How is that fair? The METS have to play 5 of the 6 division winners from last year I believe. That is harsh. Oh well.....
The Angels. They are calling themselves the LA Angels of Anaheim which is just plain stupid. Has there been a team with a bigger identity crisis in their history? I believe they were the LA Angels first, then California Angels, then Anaheim and now back to LA. The difference is the first time around, THEY PLAYED IN LA. I'm not sure if Arte has looked at a map of boundaries for LA County but ANA ain't close.
What is so wrong about being OC or ANA? The weather is better down here, the traffic isn't so bad, the women are beautiful and the beaches are cleaner. As much as I love LA and the Dodgers, I LIVE IN THE OC. There is a reason for that.
Anyway, to the games. LAD has Penny, Hendrickson and Lowe going (+ Lowe's crazy ass psycho stalking girlfriend/ex-TV sportscaster) against ANA's Santana (he's at home where he can pitch), Weaver (his brother sucks!) and Escobar. I'm hoping for 2 wins this weekend but would not be shocked to only get 1. We play down to our competition and ANA has no offense which means we will copy them with equally little offense. PLUS Hendrickson has been a gas can lately. This does not bode well.
My hope is that this rivalry will turn into the Raiders v. Chargers with the 'Doyer' fans getting all juiced and tatted up and coming to OC to beat down the stoner surf kids and rich yuppies. This could be great. We'll see what happens this weekend! GO LA, BEAT OC!
The Angels. They are calling themselves the LA Angels of Anaheim which is just plain stupid. Has there been a team with a bigger identity crisis in their history? I believe they were the LA Angels first, then California Angels, then Anaheim and now back to LA. The difference is the first time around, THEY PLAYED IN LA. I'm not sure if Arte has looked at a map of boundaries for LA County but ANA ain't close.
What is so wrong about being OC or ANA? The weather is better down here, the traffic isn't so bad, the women are beautiful and the beaches are cleaner. As much as I love LA and the Dodgers, I LIVE IN THE OC. There is a reason for that.
Anyway, to the games. LAD has Penny, Hendrickson and Lowe going (+ Lowe's crazy ass psycho stalking girlfriend/ex-TV sportscaster) against ANA's Santana (he's at home where he can pitch), Weaver (his brother sucks!) and Escobar. I'm hoping for 2 wins this weekend but would not be shocked to only get 1. We play down to our competition and ANA has no offense which means we will copy them with equally little offense. PLUS Hendrickson has been a gas can lately. This does not bode well.
My hope is that this rivalry will turn into the Raiders v. Chargers with the 'Doyer' fans getting all juiced and tatted up and coming to OC to beat down the stoner surf kids and rich yuppies. This could be great. We'll see what happens this weekend! GO LA, BEAT OC!
Monday, May 14, 2007
PENNY or PESO?
Will the real Brad Penny please stand up?
I guess being a Dodgers fan, we have to be used to this. We had Paul LoDuca for many years looking like Mike Piazza in April-June but looking like Chad Krueter July - September. What is this that I speak of you ask? Well, look at this;
2006
April 4 - July 9, 10-2 record, 2.91 ERA, 82 K's and was the NL's starting pitcher in the All Star game.
July 10 - October 4, 6-8 record, ERA climbed to 4.33 and only 66 K's.
The Dodgers practically tried to give this guy away over the off-season but found no takers. Fast forward to today and look at this;
2007
Through his first 8 starts, 5-0 record, 33 K's and an ERA of 1.39.
This is a Cy Young pace. The question is though, will Brad finally turn the corner and do this for a whole year? Brad is fast approaching Free Agency which might also be the reason for his fast start. Of course it could be all the quality nookie he's getting from girlfriend Alyssa Milano. Apparently she's been so good for Brad, MLB has allowed her to create her own line of Women's apparel for MLB teams that looks a notch cuter than the typical gear that is usually sold. As a Dodgers fan, lets hope Brad can keep this up, finally realize his potential, re-sign with the Dodgers for the dreaded 5 years, 55 million dollar jinx contract, and then sit out the next 3 of the 5 seasons. Come on Brad, do it for Alyssa. She needs the $$$ to buy more cotton for her Dodgers G-strings!
I guess being a Dodgers fan, we have to be used to this. We had Paul LoDuca for many years looking like Mike Piazza in April-June but looking like Chad Krueter July - September. What is this that I speak of you ask? Well, look at this;
2006
April 4 - July 9, 10-2 record, 2.91 ERA, 82 K's and was the NL's starting pitcher in the All Star game.
July 10 - October 4, 6-8 record, ERA climbed to 4.33 and only 66 K's.
The Dodgers practically tried to give this guy away over the off-season but found no takers. Fast forward to today and look at this;
2007
Through his first 8 starts, 5-0 record, 33 K's and an ERA of 1.39.
This is a Cy Young pace. The question is though, will Brad finally turn the corner and do this for a whole year? Brad is fast approaching Free Agency which might also be the reason for his fast start. Of course it could be all the quality nookie he's getting from girlfriend Alyssa Milano. Apparently she's been so good for Brad, MLB has allowed her to create her own line of Women's apparel for MLB teams that looks a notch cuter than the typical gear that is usually sold. As a Dodgers fan, lets hope Brad can keep this up, finally realize his potential, re-sign with the Dodgers for the dreaded 5 years, 55 million dollar jinx contract, and then sit out the next 3 of the 5 seasons. Come on Brad, do it for Alyssa. She needs the $$$ to buy more cotton for her Dodgers G-strings!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Rudy sucked as a movie and as a relief pitcher
Rudy Seanez is a bum and a gas can. This is how bad he is, his two options this year were to make the Dodgers or retire. No, not try and catch on with another team, not play in minors for a few months, just make the team or quit. And you know what, we let him on the team.
Gas Can's ERA the last 3 years was 5.68, 4.82 and currently at a lite 3.77. He is averaging more than a K an inning but he's also putting at least 2 players on per inning pitched. Teams are hitting .317 off him. .317!!!! Yet we keep running him out every few days to either blow a game or turn a close game into a blood bath for the other team.
Rudy, its time to quit. If the Dodgers won't make the right decision and cut your ass, do us all a favor and just give up. You might be a nice guy but you suck as a pitcher. You were the Original Gas Can back in the day and your second tour of duty is just as ugly. You can't tell me the Dodgers don't have 12 other kids in AAA or AA that suck slightly less than Rudy. Oh yeah, hey Grady, STOP LETTING HIM PITCH!
Gas Can's ERA the last 3 years was 5.68, 4.82 and currently at a lite 3.77. He is averaging more than a K an inning but he's also putting at least 2 players on per inning pitched. Teams are hitting .317 off him. .317!!!! Yet we keep running him out every few days to either blow a game or turn a close game into a blood bath for the other team.
Rudy, its time to quit. If the Dodgers won't make the right decision and cut your ass, do us all a favor and just give up. You might be a nice guy but you suck as a pitcher. You were the Original Gas Can back in the day and your second tour of duty is just as ugly. You can't tell me the Dodgers don't have 12 other kids in AAA or AA that suck slightly less than Rudy. Oh yeah, hey Grady, STOP LETTING HIM PITCH!
Friday, April 27, 2007
The Sky is Falling!
In 5 days the Dodgers went from Baseball's Best to a pile of poo. Yeah, a pile of poo. The NL's worst/hated rivals, SF Giants came in and swept the series at Dodgers Stadium. Ahhhhhh excuse me? The worst team in the NL comes into YOUR house and whacks you like a mob rat?
Armando Benitez has been one of the worst closers in baseball for 2+ years but he slams the door on us 3 GAMES IN A ROW?!!??!! We didn't even face SF's "aces," Zito and Cain. Holy Crap Batman!
Juan Pierre is just pure garbage. He can't hit (sub .270 avg), he can't bunt (hung Eithier out to dry on a squeeze) and can't play defense or make a throw from the OF to save his life (Durham's weak ass double which turned game 3 in SF's favor). What is it with Dodgers that get 5 year contracts? Is it the kiss of death? Dreifort sucked. Drew sucked. Pierre SUCKS! Stop giving 5 year deals to wunderturds that regress to the mean of suck-ti-tude once they start cashing the new checks.
Now we're licking our wounds, heading to SD for a weekend battle. Oh by the way, SD owns us down there. So, come Monday, we'll be 13-12 after starting 13-5. Place your bets accordingly.
Armando Benitez has been one of the worst closers in baseball for 2+ years but he slams the door on us 3 GAMES IN A ROW?!!??!! We didn't even face SF's "aces," Zito and Cain. Holy Crap Batman!
Juan Pierre is just pure garbage. He can't hit (sub .270 avg), he can't bunt (hung Eithier out to dry on a squeeze) and can't play defense or make a throw from the OF to save his life (Durham's weak ass double which turned game 3 in SF's favor). What is it with Dodgers that get 5 year contracts? Is it the kiss of death? Dreifort sucked. Drew sucked. Pierre SUCKS! Stop giving 5 year deals to wunderturds that regress to the mean of suck-ti-tude once they start cashing the new checks.
Now we're licking our wounds, heading to SD for a weekend battle. Oh by the way, SD owns us down there. So, come Monday, we'll be 13-12 after starting 13-5. Place your bets accordingly.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Its only April, keep telling yourself that, its only April
So its April 20th and the Dodgers are a Major League best, 11-5, WITHOUT much of anything from Juan Pierre and Jason Schmidt. If you would have told me this in March I would have laughed at you. Of course we started this hot a couple of years ago and then went into the tank BIG TIME. Lets see where we are come May 20th.
Regardless, nice roadtrip and we come home to the Pirates. Anything less than a sweep will be a disappointment. Jim Tracy was a nice guy and a decent manager but there is no reason that LA should not kill PIT.
Wolf, Penny and Tomko have all pitched pretty well so I like our chances of expanding our lead on the division.
On a side note, Boston vs. New York for 3 games in Boston this weekend with Schilling, Beckett and Dice-K going in the 3 games. This should be quite a fun series to watch for any baseball fan. The Yanks are like a beer league softball team that can score 10 runs a game so as long as their pitcher isn't a total gas can, they can win any game. Now they will have to face 3 of the league's best pitchers so it will be very interesting to see the outcome. Of course if Manny does not start hitting, Boston will have a hard time producing enough runs to stay with NY. Looking forward to it though!
Regardless, nice roadtrip and we come home to the Pirates. Anything less than a sweep will be a disappointment. Jim Tracy was a nice guy and a decent manager but there is no reason that LA should not kill PIT.
Wolf, Penny and Tomko have all pitched pretty well so I like our chances of expanding our lead on the division.
On a side note, Boston vs. New York for 3 games in Boston this weekend with Schilling, Beckett and Dice-K going in the 3 games. This should be quite a fun series to watch for any baseball fan. The Yanks are like a beer league softball team that can score 10 runs a game so as long as their pitcher isn't a total gas can, they can win any game. Now they will have to face 3 of the league's best pitchers so it will be very interesting to see the outcome. Of course if Manny does not start hitting, Boston will have a hard time producing enough runs to stay with NY. Looking forward to it though!
Monday, April 16, 2007
Do the Dodgers know its 2007?
One quick rant though, why is it all of my local movie theaters can afford to PLASTER the lobby with plasma flat screen TVs but yet, the Dodgers continue to use crappy TV sets from the 80's all over the stadium? Standing in line waiting for food (which lasts an inning or two!) ans all we have to watch is a curved screen with green edges that barely works? AND ITS ON A TAPE DELAY? Come on guys! Throw up some flat screens all around the stadium and in the food lines, it is 2007!!
Its not all bad.....
Ok, so I've been very critical of the Dodgers in the last week so its only fair to give praise when it is also due. I was at the Jackie Robinson celebration last night and had pretty much the complete opposite experience as I did O-Day. Of course, parking is still $15 and I was mobbed by about 12 yellow jackets as soon as I pulled in, tried to avoid their placement parking and take my own "good spot" by an exit, but after threats of arrest subsided and I agreed to move, things went smoothly.
(Note to fans, this is something we really should all embrace and try. When you pull in, just ignore the parking tools and park where you want. If we all do it, they'll have to change it eventually because they cannot keep fighting ALL OF US.)
The game was a sell out but I made sure to get there before 4pm to avoid the parking drama. Sat in the loge section and had quite an enjoyable experience. Of course, when the Dodgers beat the Padres and you spend 30 minutes honoring one of our Greats, it is hard to go wrong. Also, I tried the Stadium Grill, which is down in the left field corner of the loge level and it was quite good. Prices are too high but the burgers looked good, my BBQ chicken sandwich was great and my brother wolfed down a steak sandwich without breathing. Nice to see a positive addition.
On the field, Pierre still looks like crap. I don't know if he's just trying too hard or what but he's losing the battle with the Mendoza line and constantly bounces throws in from the OF. Lets get it going Juan! Grady might want to drop him to 7 or 8 to get him going. Wolf didn't look great but he survived and we finally put up some runs, so it all ended up ok. On to AZ for a battle for First Place!!!
(Note to fans, this is something we really should all embrace and try. When you pull in, just ignore the parking tools and park where you want. If we all do it, they'll have to change it eventually because they cannot keep fighting ALL OF US.)
The game was a sell out but I made sure to get there before 4pm to avoid the parking drama. Sat in the loge section and had quite an enjoyable experience. Of course, when the Dodgers beat the Padres and you spend 30 minutes honoring one of our Greats, it is hard to go wrong. Also, I tried the Stadium Grill, which is down in the left field corner of the loge level and it was quite good. Prices are too high but the burgers looked good, my BBQ chicken sandwich was great and my brother wolfed down a steak sandwich without breathing. Nice to see a positive addition.
On the field, Pierre still looks like crap. I don't know if he's just trying too hard or what but he's losing the battle with the Mendoza line and constantly bounces throws in from the OF. Lets get it going Juan! Grady might want to drop him to 7 or 8 to get him going. Wolf didn't look great but he survived and we finally put up some runs, so it all ended up ok. On to AZ for a battle for First Place!!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Dodgers support Gambling and Obesity
Is it just me or are the rest of you in total horror over these two new Dodgers "promotions?"
The ALL YOU CAN EAT PAVILION
Lets see, I can pay $30 for a ticket that is worth about $7 and eat myself into another notch on the old belt. What a great idea. Heart disease is not the No. 1 killer in America is it? Our kids are not fatter than ever and suffering from serious diseases at younger ages because of these heavier weights. Lets give them all 5 Dodger Dogs a piece to help them along the road to an early death and 4 or 5 cokes to wash it down. Another great idea brought to you by the num-nuts in charge now.
DODGERS LOTTERY TICKETS
While I'd love to bash McIdiot over these, he does not appear to be alone in this bad idea. The state lottery released Giants, A's, Dodgers, Angels, and Padres tickets. Why? I know the proceeds go to our schools but do we really want to show kids how great gambling can be? "Here Johnny, go throw this $5 down the toilet and scratch to your heart's content."
Somehow, I don't think the O'Malley's would be caught dead supporting either activity......
The ALL YOU CAN EAT PAVILION
Lets see, I can pay $30 for a ticket that is worth about $7 and eat myself into another notch on the old belt. What a great idea. Heart disease is not the No. 1 killer in America is it? Our kids are not fatter than ever and suffering from serious diseases at younger ages because of these heavier weights. Lets give them all 5 Dodger Dogs a piece to help them along the road to an early death and 4 or 5 cokes to wash it down. Another great idea brought to you by the num-nuts in charge now.
DODGERS LOTTERY TICKETS
While I'd love to bash McIdiot over these, he does not appear to be alone in this bad idea. The state lottery released Giants, A's, Dodgers, Angels, and Padres tickets. Why? I know the proceeds go to our schools but do we really want to show kids how great gambling can be? "Here Johnny, go throw this $5 down the toilet and scratch to your heart's content."
Somehow, I don't think the O'Malley's would be caught dead supporting either activity......
Opening Day in LA 2007
COST
45 minute wait on Stadium Way to get into the stadium.....At least $3.29 (gas)
Parking prices raised 2nd or 3rd time in 4 years................$15.00
Tickets from a scalper, face value $17, I paid................ $66
A large beer.........................$11.00 (^&^%%$$#!%^^%&*)
Bathroom (yes even the men's line!!!) and Food lines outrageously LONG.....2 Innings
Having baseball back even with a clueless owner.........PRICELESS.....or is it......
Alright, I have not missed an Opening Day at Chavez Ravine in more than 10 years. Back when the O'Malley's ran the premier franchise, I never had a problem getting tickets for opening day and did not even have to buy season tickets. Now the fans are held hostage. The Dodgers release maybe 50 tickets for sale to the general public for opening day. The rest they hold back and use to BLACKMAIL you into buying some kind of ticket package. Whatever, I'd rather pay a scalper $50 more than a ticket is worth than buy a "Plan" from these A-holes running the team now.
Anyway, so I've been going to games for over a quarter of a century. I have NEVER had a problem parking my car at Dodger Stadium. Let me repeat that again for the idiots now in charge, I'VE NEVER HAD PROBLEMS PARKING MY CAR IN 25+ YEARS!!! If you have half a brain cell you can navigate a lot and find a spot. On the rare days like Opening Day or the playoffs (yeah...ha ha), then it can be a little harder but try showing up before the 2nd inning and you can find something! We don't need the Disneyland Nazis pointing us to spots. If anything, we need them MORE at the end of the game to direct exiting traffic. (That requires common sense though!)
Even with all of this, I still managed to be in my seat for the F-16 flyover, the Anthem and all that jazz. I was happy to see the names return to the jerseys (another idiotic move by Frank the TANK). The product on the field that we are paying these HIGH prices for could be a whole lot better. I love that our leadoff hitter/new 50 million dollar man hasn't met a pitch he won't swing at. (Back to prices - the Dodgers raised them on average over 20% this last year. What a way to thank the 4 million fans that came out last year!) So the game is moving along through 2 non-descript innings when I get up to go to the bathroom. HOLY COW. The bathroom line for the Men's "room" was a giant U. It started at the aisle to the seats, went all the way to the exit gate then back into the john. IT WAS LONGER THAN THE LINE FOR THE LADIES ROOM?!?!? How is that possible? We guys can line up in groups of 12 and happily pee into a long metal trough, how can this take so long?? Well it did.
Next, onto the food lines to get a beer and a dog. The lines were equally long and slow moving to the point where the line-members broke out into a "LET'S GO VENDORS" chant. AMAZING. Beers now cost $11 at the stadium. Yes, $11!!!! Apparently Frank did not go to the Arte Moreno school of treating fans right. So I missed at least 2 innings and the Schmidt HR (our only power of the day) because of this and came back just in time to see our new ace pull up lame and leave the game. Grrrrreat! "I love this Game"
So the bully ended up giving up a few more runs and we lost in typical Dodgers fashion. Outside of a late rally in the 9th, nothing really to get excited about. Maybe that is why I am so furious over everything else. Don't even ask about the drive home. Got in the car in the lot at about 4:30pm and did not get to the freeway until about 5:30pm....... THANKS FRANK! At least we went on to win the next two games vs. COL.
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